After President Obama said Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) was “wrong” to oppose the trade deal the U.S. is negotiating with 11 Pacific countries, Warren hit back with a tweet and email to supporters on Wednesday questioning why the Obama administration won’t let the public see the the trade deal.
The Obama Admin says I’m wrong – we shouldn’t worry about TPP. So why can’t the American people read the deal? http://t.co/PoavXNJlRS
— Elizabeth Warren (@elizabethforma) April 22, 2015
Warren has criticized the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), arguing that it could undermine financial regulations in the U.S.
On Tuesday, Obama defended the potential trade deal from Warren’s attacks.
“I love Elizabeth. We’re allies on a whole host of issues, but she’s wrong on this,” he said.
But Warren would not back down. On Wednesday, she sent an email to supporters calling out the Obama administration for keeping the TPP out of the public eye.
“The government doesn’t want you to read this massive new trade agreement. It’s top secret,” Warren wrote in the email. “Why? Here’s the real answer people have given me: ‘We can’t make this deal public because if the American people saw what was in it, they would be opposed to it.'”
The senator also criticized the administration for allegedly allowing corporations to view the trade deal, but not the American public.
“For more than two years now, giant corporations have had an enormous amount of access to see the parts of the deal that might affect them and to give their views as negotiations progressed. But the doors stayed locked for the regular people whose jobs are on the line,” Warren wrote. “We’ve all seen the tricks and traps that corporations hide in the fine print of contracts. We’ve all seen the provisions they slip into legislation to rig the game in their favor. Now just imagine what they have done working behind closed doors with TPP.”
